


My Sister, My Brother

by Animedemon01



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Chronic Illness, Half-Siblings, carmen and player are related, chronically ill player, players real name is Mason
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-19
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2020-11-02 09:31:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20700326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Animedemon01/pseuds/Animedemon01
Summary: After receiving no contact from Player for a week, Carmen goes to check on him and learns something about herself.





	My Sister, My Brother

**Author's Note:**

> Request fic from my Tumblr: https://caramel-sandiego.tumblr.com/

It wasn’t unusual to go a few days without communication from Player if they weren’t working on a caper; even if he was homeschooled, he _did _have a life outside of the team. But after almost a week of no contact, Carmen was starting to get worried.

“I think we should go to Canada and check on Player.” She told Ivy and Zack. “I’m worried VILE might have gotten him.”

“If VILE had wanted to hurt him, they would’ve done it a _long_ time ago.” Said Zack.

“He’s just a kid; VILE seems okay with harming adults, but we’ve never seen them lay so much as a finger on a kid.” Added Ivy. “He probably just went of vacation and forgot to tell us.”

Carmen shook her head. “No, that doesn’t seem like something he would do, and I’m really worried that something might have happened to him. I know his address; we can visit his house and check in on him.”

“But we don’t even know his real name.” Argued Ivy. “It would look really suspicions to his parents if three adults who didn’t even know his name just show up and ask about him.”

“That’s why we’re going to have to watch his house before we decide to do anything.” She told Ivy. “Once we figure out what the situation is, that’s when we’ll take action.”

“So I guess we’re really doing this.” Said Zack. “Finally, we get to see Player in real life. I wonder if he’s as short as I imagine him being.”

After arriving in Canada, Carmen left Zack and Ivy back at the hotel and headed to Player’s house herself. She was planning on planting a couple cameras around the outside of the house, providing she couldn’t find Player herself.

She quietly watched the house, hidden from view, and waiting for Player’s parents to leave for work. Once they were gone, she made her move, planting motion activated cameras in places they wouldn’t notice.

At one point, she snuck in through an open window to try and find any clues to Player’s whereabouts. She was able to find his room, but he wasn’t in there, and it appeared as if he hadn’t been there for a couple of days. The room was clean, showing no evidence of a struggle, but his computer was completely cold. She turned on the PC and checked its most recent activity (Player had taught her how to do it a few months back). As she had suspected, the PC hadn’t been used in the last few days, highly unusual behavior for Player. She decided to head back to the hotel after that.

Carmen checked the footage from her hidden cameras that night, but couldn’t find any evidence of Player entering or leaving his house. The cameras seemed to be functioning properly, as she was able to get footage of his parents, along with some video of local wildlife that happened to trigger the cameras.

Zack and Ivy had checked all missing person alerts for the area, but none of the profiles matched Player’s description, so it was unlikely that he had been taken by VILE.

Carmen was not ready to give up yet, so in one final attempt to find out where player had gone, she decided to sneak back to his house one more time and attach tracking devices to both of his parents’ cars. That way, she could pinpoint exactly where they traveled during the day in order to see if they visited anywhere odd.

For the first few hours, the tracking devices didn’t provide Carmen with any new leads. Both of Player’s parents headed to work, a neither one of their car’s left the parking lots once they arrived at their respective office buildings.

Just as Carmen was about to give up, Player’s Mother’s car drove out of the parking lot and started driving in the opposite direction of their house, before eventually stopping at a children’s hospital.

The good news; Player hadn’t been captured by VILE. The bad news; he was in a hospital, and had been for at least a few days, with Carmen having no idea what was wrong with him. She knew she had to get to that hospital as soon as possible and find out what had happened to him.

The children’s hospital was only about a block away from the hotel they were staying in, and Zack was able to drive her there in about two minutes. By the time she had gotten there, Player’s mother hadn’t even walked up to the desk yet.

Carmen snuck by some security cameras and made her way into the hospital. While trying to find out where Player’s mother had gone, Carmen managed to bump right into the woman.

“Oops, sorry. Its my first day volunteering here, and I kinda got lost.” She lied. “I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going, but I think I’ve figured out where I’m supposed to be going now.”

“Oh, its quite alright.” Said the older woman as she went on her way.

Carmen left the hospital after that, deciding it might be best to see Player’s mother again before she saw him.

The next day, Carmen made a point to head to the hospital and bump into Player’s mother again, this time as she was leaving the hospital.

“You’re that girl I saw yesterday.” Said the older woman. “The one that’s volunteering here, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me.” Replied Carmen. “My second day’s going a lot better; I didn’t get lost today. Plus, the kids are really sweet.”

“Its wonderful that you’re volunteering here.” Player’s mother told her. “Back when my son was younger, he spent a lot more time here, and it always made his day to be visited by people like you. He’s older now, and doesn’t get sick as much, or stay in the hospital for as long as he used to, but a lot of the children aren’t as fortunate as he is now, and really benefit from having visitors. Some of them don’t even get visits from their parents.”

“Well, I always try to help out other people as much as I can.” Carmen wished she had the time to volunteer at the hospital for real, but since that wasn’t going to happen, she made a mental note to donate some of the money she’s stolen from VILE instead. “Its really terrible how parents can just ignore their kids like that when they’re sick.”

The woman nodded. “For some parents, they just start to feel like their kid is a lost cause, even if the child isn’t terminally ill. So instead, they decide to abandon their child and act like they don’t exist anymore. When I was younger, I had a daughter I was forced to abandon, I think about her every day. I know I wouldn’t have been able to take care of her, but I still feel guilty about it all the time. My situation has greatly improved since then, and I’ve promised myself I will never abandon my son, no matter what happens.”

“Do you ever wonder if she’s still out there?” Ask Carmen. “I was found by my adoptive father in Argentina when I was a baby, and I’ve always wondered about my biological parents and if they’re still out there. I know there was an economic crisis going on around that time in the country, and sometimes I wonder if they had to abandon me because they couldn’t afford to take care of me. I don’t blame them for that, but it would be nice to know what happened to them.”

Player’s mother gave her an odd look. “H-how old are you?”

“My adoptive father found me around twenty years ago, so even though I don’t know exactly, I’d say I’m around twenty.” She replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Because twenty years ago, I was living in Argentina, when I was forced to abandon my baby daughter. I wasn’t married to her father when she was born, and after he was killed in a car accident, I couldn’t afford to care for the baby, and had to abandon her. I immigrated to Canada soon after. There’s a chance _you _might be my daughter.

“Would you be okay with taking a DNA test just to see? I’ve never told my son, Mason, about the fact that he has a half-sister, but if you really were my daughter, I would want you to meet him. Due to his chronic illness, my son has never really had a chance to make friends, or even meet other people-he can’t spend a lot of time outside the house, and we’ve always had to homeschool him-so if he had a sister, I really would want for him to meet her.”

So Mason was Player’s real name? Carmen had to admit, it did suit him. The fact that Player had a chronic illness did explain why he never left his room, though.

“Of course.” Replied Carmen. “I’ve always wanted to know more about my past, and if taking a DNA test would help with that, I’m all for it. We’d have to do it soon, though, as I’m leaving the country in a couple weeks to study abroad; this volunteer position is just something I’m doing temporarily.”

“There’s a lab not far from here that does quick and accurate DNA testing. It’s not too expensive, so I could pay to have the testing done.” She told Carmen. “Maybe you could meet me tomorrow at four in the hospital parking lot and we could get the testing done.”

“I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.” Said Carmen.

The woman nodded. “Sounds great see you then.”

After the older woman had left, Carmen made her way to Player’s room. All things considering, he didn’t look too bad.

“Hey, Mason.” She said, taking the opportunity to call Player by his real name. “How’s it going?”

“First you managed to track me down here, and now you know my real name?” He muttered. “This day is so weird.”

“Well, its about to get even weirder.” She told him. “As it turns out, we might be half siblings.”

He stared at her. “Can you repeat that? I must’ve misheard you; for a second there I thought you were saying we might be related.”

“You didn’t mishear me.” Replied Carmen. “Earlier, I was talking with your mom and she brought up that she had a daughter that she was forced to abandon before you were born. So, I told her about how Shadow-San found me in Argentina as a baby 20 years ago, and long story short, the dates match up, so its very possible that I might be your half-sister. We’re going to get a DNA test done tomorrow.”

Player stayed silent for a moment, and finally spoke. “Hey, if it turns out my mom is also your mom, are you going to hate her for abandoning you?”

Carmen shook her head. “I know it was a difficult decision for her, and I understand that due to circumstances beyond her control, she would not have been able to take care of me and think everything turned out okay in the end.”

Player nodded. “Okay, that’s good. Wait, where did you even see my mom? Its not like you could have gone to my house and told her you, a grown adult, was a friend of her teenaged son.”

“I ran into her in the hall here yesterday.” She explained. “I lied and told her that I was a volunteer here. I made a point of seeing her again today, and we got to talking. She told me that you were in the hospital a lot as a little kid, due to a chronic illness, and that even though you were a lot better now, you still had to be homeschooled because of your health.”

“Sorry I never told you that I was sick before; I just didn’t want you to treat me like some kind of charity case.” Said Player. “Don’t worry; I’m not dying or anything. I’m just way more susceptible to viruses than most people.”

“I get that; though it would’ve been nice to know that, so I didn’t think VILE had captured you.” She told him. “As much as I’d like to stay and chat, Zack is waiting outside in the car, and I probably don’t have much time before he comes in here assuming VILE got me.”

Player nodded. “I guess I’ll see you later, Red.”

Normally Carmen didn’t stay in one place for more than a few days, but in order to wait for the DNA test results, she had to stay in Ontario for over a week. Player was out of the hospital at this point, and back home.

When the results had arrived in the mail, Player’s mother called Carmen over to their house in order to learn the results with here.

Carmen stood next to the older women, anxiously waiting for her to open the envelop. But as the woman opened the envelop and read the results, she said nothing. Instead, she simply put the paper down and hugged Carmen.

“I never thought I’d find my daughter again, but you’re here; you’re my daughter.” She said.

Player smiled from the other side of the room. “Well, Carmen, looks like you’re my big sister after all.”

Carmen left the next day, telling her biological mother that she had to leave earlier than she first thought. But before she left, she made sure to visit Player again.

“You know, Red, its going to be way easier to communicate with you now that we found out we’re siblings.” He told her. “I don’t have to hide the fact that I’m talking with you, as mom won’t have a problem with me having communication with my half-sister; you can even send me letters or call me on the house phone if you’d like.”

Carmen gave a nod. “I’ll make sure to stay in contact with you and our mother, and I’ll try to come and visit now and then. I’m heading to Mexico for my next heist in the morning, you up to helping me out again?”

“Of course!”


End file.
